SWELL
a new music-theater work
conceived by Melisa Tien
featuring 10 gifted composers
~ Live and Online, 3.17.21 - 3.21.21 ~
(Art: Blair Thornley)
Melisa collaborated with composers Joshua Cerdenia, Carolyn Chen, Justine F. Chen, Or Matias, Tamar Muskal, Polina Nazaykinskaya, Leyna Marika Papach, Izzi Ramkissoon, Kamala Sankaram, and Jorge Sosa and 20 other artists on a contemporary song cycle about immigrants & children of immigrants, written by immigrants & children of immigrants. Tickets were available on a sliding scale from $5-50. For more information, please visit the production webpage.
A concert presentation of SWELL ran at HERE July 13-14, 2019. It featured singers Jonathan May, Jasmine Muhammad, & Kannan Vasudevan, musicians Naomi Florin, Mila Henry, & Jennifer Shaw, music direction by Mila Henry, projection design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, & stage direction by Elena Araoz.
[Photos: Al Foote III]
“Swell emphatically rejects the idea that there is one monolithic immigrant experience…there were moments of magic…like many of the people whose stories it tells, Swell is a piece on a journey, and there are many places it could go.”
- National Sawdust Log
